


Screaming Skies

by Triage



Category: None - Fandom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-13
Updated: 2018-09-13
Packaged: 2019-07-11 22:01:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,869
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15981395
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Triage/pseuds/Triage
Summary: Two sisters do battle in a fight not of their choosing...





	Screaming Skies

**Keen #2: Screaming Skies**

**Sundered Blood**

The evening was awash in crimson as the sun began to set. Wickersham's streets were filled with the cries of the Tainted, from every window that was open or shattered. The corruptive Banshees soared through the skies, howling and spreading the disease of their darkened souls. Even the buildings looked like they were coloured by the blood of the countless innocents that now writhed on the ground, unable to withstand the pain that clawed at them from within. Many scraped their own faces violently, and screamed for death, but could no longer move their hands to even kill themselves. Walking the empty streets, Mary could only gaze in pity and anguish at the victims. She had tried to heal and soothe some, but that only increased their suffering for some reason. Perhaps she was Tainted too. And where were the heroes now? Where was Guardian Force? The Millennium Sentinels?

She didn't know, but she hoped. Because she was finding it more and more difficult as the Banshees increased in number, the fallen joining their ranks when the Taint consumed them. And even now, they made ready to move on Windham and Goldstone. Soon, all of America would be filled with screams, and ghouls, and the world would surely fall. She removed her mask, because the Tainted could not see, let alone fathom the Sylph, and she felt it unnecessary to hide her face for the time being. She wore her traditional Leaf Warrior costume, a shirt made of one gigantic leaf that bared her arms and shoulders, a leafy hood, spiked shoulder guards, vine and leather braces that covered right up to half her fingers, a silver leaf belt, green leaf pants and soft shoes. She and her siblings were mostly alone in all of Wickersham. Even their ancestral father, the Magnificent, was not present to lead them, so they worked alone. Mary had fought as many of the Banshees as she could, showing them that they were not the only ones who could beat foes by screaming.

"It's pointless..." She heard a familiar voice say, and as she rounded a street corner, she saw, standing amongst several writhing Tainted, Diana Santiago. Her sister, was still dressed as Lacquer, a black cropped top, black form fitting pants, flexible boots and black armsleeves right up to her biceps, but like Mary, her mask was removed. "...a meaningless circle..."

"Diana?" Mary called uncertainly.

The girl turned to look at Mary, as if not recognizing her, but then her expression changed to a glower, and Mary took a step back.

"You...you oppose us. Why?" She demanded, stepping forward, and her eyes began to glow like dark molten pools of golden magma.

"Who's us?" Mary questioned back as she stood her ground, and she studied her sister's face. "Oh God...no...you've been Tainted!"

Her voice barely a whisper, but it was like Mary had struck her sister with a hammer, as the girl reared back, and the other Tainted beings writhing on the ground on the streets cried out in agony, as if the word itself carried pain.

"Tainted?" said Diana with a smile, "No...I am not. I am Diana Santiago. I am Blessed."

She moved closer to Mary, "Mary? Is that you?"

When she made as if to hug Mary, the girl finally stumbled back, whimpering, "...no..."

Diana hesitated, puzzled by her sister's behaviour, and then she gasped, and shook her head, her fingers lightly touching her face, "God, oh God...it happened, didn't it? Mary...are my eyes...?"

When Mary reluctantly nodded, gripping her bow defensively, Diana fell to her knees, "No, no, no, no, no...I can't be, I'm Lacquer, I'm a superhuman...they can't affect us...they can't..."

"It's all right, Diana..." Mary knelt down before her sister, "I'll find the cure, I'll make it..."

Diana's weeping slowly turned from weeping to laughter, an unpleasant, and mirthless laugh. "All right?" She lifted her head, and her irises were glowing gold.

"Nothing's all right, dear sister, because of you..."

Mary rose to her feet, already anticipating as she felt the tremors in the ground. "Diana..."

"Perfect little Mary. Oh Mary, Mary, my sister...how I love you, and how you hate me. Is that fair?" Diana's voice had taken an odd octave, as if two people were speaking at once. "I only want to share the world with you, but you would cut me through in the back and bleed me."

Mary shook her head, "Diana, it's the corruption. You know that's not true! I'm your sister! I will not betray you!"

"But you already have..." tears fell down Diana's cheeks, "...you are not..." she clasped her head and struggled for control, "You're...not...one of us."

There were purplish pulsing veins running all along her neck and cheeks now, and the glow in her irises were stronger, "If you will not be one of us...then you will die."

Diana half crouched, as wispy thin mists formed around her arms and hands, and the rocks and gravel began to float up around her, forcing Mary to back up faster, her own eyes turning green as she drew upon the Earth.

"How long do you think you will stand against me, Mary?" Diana taunted, "You've always feared my power. And you're right to be afraid."

She motioned her hands in a fluid manner, her body shifted into a half crouching stance even as she swept her right arm smoothly while her left bent and crept in the same direction as her right.

Great chunks of ground broke and floated up while she began to turn her body slowly, and the rocks floated all around her. "Because you're my sister, I will allow you to run first. Go on then."

"Diana..." Mary drew an arrow from her quiver and nocked her bow, aiming towards her sister, "...I don't run away from family."

"Swifter death, then." Diana kicked her right leg and thrust her palms outwards, the white mist dashing against the floating rocks, and the debris hurtled forward like bullets. The massive projectiles flew towards Mary with direct precision, aiming for her chest.

Flecks of gold spots appeared in Mary's eyes as she silently began to feel a burning sensation in her body, and the arrow in her hands turned into fire. She fired the first arrow, and it slammed into the largest oncoming rock and gravel, which exploded in a shower of sparks and fire. In the microseconds since she fired the first arrow, she fired two more in quick succession, taking out the projectiles, but still three found their mark and struck her with such force, she had the wind knocked out of her and she fell ten feet from where she stood.

Diana's laughter in her strange double voice snapped Mary back to awareness and she saw coming right down at her a huge rock six feet wide in diameter, and weighing about a ton by her guess. Rolling her feet up and over her head, she used the momentum to pull herself out of the way of the plummeting rock, avoiding being squashed by just a split second.

Retrieving her bow and nocking an arrow, she aimed right between her feet and loosed the arrow. Green vines and flora burst out of the ground under her feet, launching her high into the air where she drew three arrows and fired all three at once, then she slung her bow on her back and thrust four more arrows, two in each hand, simply tossing with expert flicks of her wrists as she sailed up. The first arrow to land, fire from the bow, exploded in fire and splinters, not five feet away from Diana, forcing her to lose her balance and move away, when the second arrow burst into water and splashed her with several buckets' worth, and the third arrow exploded into vines, plants and greenery, which the other four thrown arrows added to as they burst into animated vines that grabbed at Diana's wrists and legs, binding her and holding her in place.

"Hah!" Diana laughed, "You think this can hold me, kid?

Mary readied her bow once more as she waited for gravity to bring her back down...only it didn't.

Looking down she realized she was not falling, or moving anywhere at all, and her sister was staring at her with those glowing golden eyes, grinning.

"Hhh!" A gasp escaped her before Mary was abruptly plummeting to the ground at far greater speed than she should be. Rocks, gravel and tar exploded when she impacted unto the ground. She was sprawled out on the ground, her face turned to one side, and she could not even lift her head, or a single finger. The ground beneath her groaned and trembled as she felt her own weight increasing by the second, and she added her own groan as she felt the pain and pressure building up.

"How does it feel to be buried under your own weight?" Diana asked. "Hurts, doesn't it?"

Mary's eyes widened as her irises turned blue and she felt the torrents answering her call. Clenching her teeth, Mary struggled to speak, "You'll...know...soon...enough."

Diana in the mean time had freed herself from the bindings of the vines by reversing gravity around them, and as they floated up, she violently tore them off, and then put them through the same fate as what she was placing Mary in, increasing the weight of the plants so greatly, that they couldn't even remain upright. She then focused all her power on Mary, and increased her weight that the girl felt something almost breaking in her, and she cried out in agony. Diana was so focused on Mary, she did not see the shadow growing over her, or the sound of a great body of water moving until it was too late.

When she did turn around, Diana had enough time to scream just before a gigantic wave of water crashed on her, drowning out anything else she might have to say. Instantly, Mary felt herself returning to her normal weight. Relieved, she quickly rose to her feet, drew her bow and fired an arrow with a long vine attached to it and pulled herself up unto a building top.

Moments later, the waters began to rise up, in a bubble, with Diana manipulating gravity. As the waters lifted from her, she spread her right leg outwards while keeping her left knee bent, and swung her arms in a circle, on opposite directions from each other, her fingers clenched except for the index and middle fingers, until she brought both wrists together, and all her fingers splayed out, and the waters spun around in their own lack of gravity. When she turned she was grabbed up by Mary, swinging by on her bow and the vine. Slamming her against the building, the two fell, and were on each other in seconds.

Diana brought her knee violently up into Mary's gut and forced her sister back, while Mary lurched, she still managed to throw two bolts, smaller sized arrows, to either side of Diana's head, one bolt unleashing a shrill piercing scream, and the other spewing greenish gas clouds.

"AGH!" The girl screamed and punched at Mary, who easily swung her bow about and knocked the hand down while she tried to punch Diana's face, but her sister ducked under her, and smashed her elbow into the girl's side painfully.

Mary stumbled away, then drew an arrow, which she held in her right hand, while she spun her bow in the left hand, smashing the edge of her weapon into Diana's cheek, then she stabbed her in the right thigh with her arrow and pulled it out, and finished with a hard kick to her sternum, sending the girl falling into a heap.

"Dammit, Diana, you can fight the Taint! I know you can! Try!" Shouted Mary. "This isn't you."

"Heh...isn't me, huh?" Diana glared at Mary. She shoved her sister in the chest roughly, "What do you know about me?"

Mary stood her ground, "More than you realize, sis."

"That's what you think." Diana shook her head, "You don't understand the Taint at all, because you can't be touched by it. It doesn't corrupt or turn you into something you're not. It only brings out what's already been there all along."

Diana reached out and gently caressed Mary's cheek, "So the pure and simple truth, Mary...is I hate you."

The glow in Diana's eyes grew stronger, while Mary's eyes dimmed. "SO DIE!" The older sister struck Mary across the face with a hooked punch, which sent the girl stumbling, and as she looked, the waters were coming for her now, directed by Diana's powers.

Mary dropped her bow and arrow, and raised her hands, palms outward as she moved her hands and forcefully manipulated the waters away from herself, and she sent the torrents back into the sea, tons of it. She was careful to make sure the waves did not overrun any of the Tainted close to the ocean. The time she took to deal with this kept her distracted from Diana's charge and the girl tackled her sister to the ground painfully.

Straddling her waist, Diana reared back and pummelled Mary across the face repeatedly, whilst increasing Mary's weight once more, making it impossible for the girl to move.

"What? No more water to try drowning me with?" Diana challenged.

Mary spat out blood, her lips swollen and her cheeks badly bruised, she gazed up at her murderous sister and whispered softly. Diana leaned in closer and she heard Mary say, "You can't fight the winds."

It was then she realized why Mary's eyes looked dim. They had turned into a grey, misty colour. She straightened up and turned to look behind her when she felt the wind brushing against her face, and Mary's bow smacked her in the face, then fell right into Mary's grip, and as Diana stood up, a powerful gust of air smashed her against the wall of a building, and Mary was freed.

Rising to her feet, Mary drew an arrow and fired it directly at Diana's face, but the arrow exploded into a flash of blinding light before it pierced her.

"EARGH!" Diana clutched at her eyes painfully, and stumbled forward. Blindly the girl threw her gravitokinetic powers around, and Mary felt herself becoming slightly lighter than normal, and she too advantage of this. Aiming at Diana's feet, she fired an explosive arrow with burning vines that burst out of the ground and launched Diana into the air.

Even as this happened, Mary rushed forward and slid on her knees, letting her momentum carry her forward while she aimed upwards and fired an arrow with a binding vine up at Diana. The vines wrapped the girl up tightly, binding her hands to her sides, and wrapping around her mouth and eyes as well, and pulled her down violently. Now standing at Diana's head, Mary leapt high into the air over Diana. As she sailed overhead, Mary flipped about so her head was aimed at Diana, and then fired three explosive arrows, two right at the girl's sternum, and making them explode before the sharp arrowheads could pierce her body. The impacts and concussive force were akin to being hit with hundred kilogram bricks, and the last one right at Diana's chest, as Mary completed her vault. When she landed, Diana lay still on the ground, unmoving.

Staying in a kneeling position, Mary waved her hand over the vines and they released Diana. Mary's heart sank when she saw that Diana's glazed eyes were unblinking, staring up into empty space, and not glowing.

"D-Diana...?" Mary whimpered. "...I didn't. I thought you could...You can't be dead."

She raced to her sister's side and knelt down, gazing at her face. Mary could still sense life in Diana, it couldn't be. Why wasn't she moving?

"HNNGH!" The golden glow abruptly returned and Diana seized Mary by the throat with her left hand, glowering at the girl.

Choking, Mary gripped Diana's wrist desperately, when she felt the grip weakening abruptly, and Diana sighed, letting go of her. "Go away."

"Diana..." Mary started to say.

" **GO AWAY!** " Diana turned her head away from her sister as she struggled to rise to her feet, but was too hurt to move. "We're done. I never want to see you again. If we ever do meeet, I'll kill you."

Pursing her lips, Mary picked up her sister and moved her off the road, where she was placed amongst the other writhing Tainted. "I'll find a cure. And I'll come back for you." She told her.

Diana refused to answer, but glared at her.

Mary walked a little distance, then turned back to look at her sister, "Hate me all you want, but I still love you. So that's that."

Diana watched as her sister soared away, pulling herself up to a tall building with an arrow and vine, and she lay her head back down, staring at the sky, indifferent.

**THE END**


End file.
